Twitter, Twitter, I'm A Winner!!!

Back in 2015, when I was working as a driver, I used to listen to the radio all day long. Because I called in to a couple of the local stations to participate in their listener contests I won free tickets to nearby concerts and shows, quite often. As a matter of fact, of the 6 live events I went to that year, I only bought tickets for 2 of them. 

Since I haven't been listening to morning radio shows since March of last year, the free stuff has been hard to come by. But on Tuesday night my "winning ways" made a comeback in a big way. 

If you've been reading this blog you already know that I have become a real fan of the Nashville Predators hockey team. 

Following their season from October through April is the thing that has filled my personal "sports gap". I'm referring to what used to be the couple of months between the Superbowl and opening day of the Yankees season each year when nothing happened in sports that really interested me. 

Up until a couple of years ago there was only the "madness" of the college basketball season to watch throughout February and March. Because I live in Kentucky I am "required" to pay attention to NCAA tournament, but it's a pedestrian interest at best. 

But that gap was filled back in 2015, when I became interested in NHL hockey again. That's when I started watching the Nashville Predators. 

I get all their games on the Fox Sports Tennessee cable channel. I watch as often as I can. 

On each broadcast the announcers ask for those watching to send them a question about the team by way of Twitter. At the start of the 3rd period of the game and they pick one they consider the best. The author of that question gets a special prize. It's usually tickets to an up coming concert or event at the Bridgestone Arena. 

Most of the time the winning entry somehow incorporates a mention of the event that will be the prize. 

Last night I was watching the Predators play the Buffalo Sabers when the "Tweet of the Night" contest was announced. The prize was a pair of tickets to the May 20th Lionel Richie concert. 

I thought that might be a good concert to go to. So I decided to enter the contest for the first time. 

My tweet asked about the recent improvement in the play of a couple of my favorite Predator player, Filip Forsberg and Viktor Advisson. I carefully composed the 140 characters using a couple of funny song title puns and sent it off through the "Twittersphere." I confirmed via the hashtag that it was received. From what I read in the other entries, I thought I might stand a chance. But then I always think I should win when I enter a contest like that. There was nothing to do but wait and hope I was right.  

With the game tied at 2, the start of the third period finally arrived. The broadcasters announced that it was time for the "Hunt Brothers Pizza Tweet of The Night"

Willy Daunic, the play-by-play guy, started off by saying that given the Lionel Richie theme, tonight's winner took this year's tweets "to another level". The color annalist, Stu Grimson, said that the tweet blew his mind on several levels. 

Then they put up a graphic of the tweet and it was mine!!

They took a couple of minutes to answer the question. But then as the third period face off got the game going again they complemented me by saying that the tweet was so clever that they could have just presented it as a rhetorical question. Willy concluded the segment with the phrase "Ron Havens, we salute you."

I was excited on a couple of levels. To see my name and my Twitter profile picture on the TV screen was cool. And then there was the fact that I won free concert tickets. 

When Paula got home from working late, I showed her the video of the announcement. She was excited about the concert. 

It was a fun night of winning and watching hockey. Coincidentally, the two players I tweeted about both scored goals. The evening would have been perfect if the Predators hadn't blown a 4-2 lead to lose in overtime, 5-4. Oh well, you can't have everything. 

Now all I have to do is watch my Twitter feed for someone from the Predators to contact me with information on how I'm going to get my tickets. 

It's really nice to win something again. It's been a while. I hope my lucky streak continues through the end of the month. I'm entered in a contest to win a terrific vacation. The winner will be chosen on January 30. It's by random drawing so all I can really do is "wish upon a star". That's all I'm going to say about that.  I don't want to jinx myself. 

Even if that doesn't work out, thanks to my very first tweet to the Nashville Predators, I'm already a winner.